USCIS Releases Data on Naturalization for 2010

Dallas, TX (Law Firm Newswire) May 23, 2011 – The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services recently released its annual report regarding naturalization in the U.S. for the 2010 year.

Dallas immigration lawyers - Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C.

The data shows that naturalization has declined by approximately 426,000 since 2008. The total number of persons naturalized has also consistently declined since 2008 from every region of the world except for Africa. USCIS opines that the declining rates do not suggest a historical trend, but that the 2008 rates were caused by a surge due to an impending filing fee increase for naturalization applications, and the current figures reflect that year’s surge.

“USCIS recognizes that there are year to year fluctuations in the number of people naturalizing and cautions against drawing conclusions based on data over the short three year period covered in the report,” said Dallas immigration attorney Stewart Rabinowitz of the firm of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. “One explanation in the decline in naturalization numbers may be attributed to the high USCIS naturalization filing fee of $680 at a time of high unemployment during the current recession.”

The data also shows continued trends seen over the past several decades. Prior to the 1970s, most of those naturalizing were of European descent. Since 1976, persons from Asia have led persons from other regions in U.S. naturalization rates. This change occurred largely because of the increased immigration from Asian countries, from Vietnamese refugees during the Vietnam war, and because persons from Asian are more likely to seek U.S. naturalization than those from European, according to the report. Forty-one percent of those naturalized in 2010 were Asians.

The report attributes the growth of naturalization of those from Africa to the elimination of the annual limit of 10,000 asylum status adjustments that occurred in 2005. One in six originally from Africa who naturalized in the U.S. had held held asylum status.

Mexico led other countries in the number of persons naturalized with 67,062. India ranked second with 61,142, and the Philippines and China rank third and fourth with around 35,000 persons naturalized each. Women accounted for about one-third of all persons naturalized, and more than half of all persons naturalized were between 25 and 44 years old. Two-thirds were married.

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